Buffalo Sabres Come Oh So Close In Winter Classic

The Buffalo Sabres rallied from down 2-0 to the New York Rangers to force overtime where they almost won it, but a Sabres penalty gave the Rangers a power play where J.T. Miller beat Robin Lehner to give the Rangers a 3-2 victory. It keeps the Sabres winless in two appearances in outdoor games, both in overtime.

The Rangers were up 2-0 just 8:20 into the game, but the Sabres slowly got back into it, playing well defensively. Sam Reinhart scored in the first minute of the second period to cut the Rangers lead in half. Then Rasmus Ristolainen scored early in the third to tie it. It was the second goal in two games for Ristolainen.

The two teams played even up for the rest of the third period and then went to overtime. The Sabres came within inches of ending it early in overtime when Reinhart and Jack Eichel broke in 2 on 1, but Reinhart's pass to Eichel deflected off a defenseman. It would have been a storybook ending to a tremendous comeback especially with Buffalo's star player to score the winner. It wasn't to be.

A tripping call on the Sabres Jacob Josefson gave the Rangers a 4 on 3 power play and that's the edge they needed. The Rangers scored 28 seconds later.

Robin Lehner had a tremendous game in goal stopping 39 of 42 shots.

The game was played under sunny skies with temperatures in the teens in front of a crowd of more than 41-thousand at Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets in Queens.